Game animal observation for recreation and/or for scouting in association with hunting activities is growing increasingly popular. Game animal observation or scouting activities can include implementation of scouting cameras for taking photographs, video footage, or other video recordings. It is known and becoming increasingly popular to use digital scouting cameras for game animal observation, allowing users to, for example, save scouting images onto personal computers (PCs) for later viewing.
Scouting cameras for scouting potential hunting areas and determining game patterns, particularly without disturbing animal activity, are generally well known in the art. Typically, the apparatus includes a film, digital or video camera and a passive infrared sensor (e.g., a motion/heat sensor) that is adapted to sense movement and, in response, activate the camera focused on the area in which the sensor detects movement. Oftentimes, these devices include a delay timer with multiple settings to match specific conditions or locations, thus eliminating unwanted multiple exposures or other non-desired events. Moreover, such apparatus preferably includes high/low sensitivity settings to allow adjustment of the camera's effective range in order to photograph or record game at a desired distance.
Typical digital scouting cameras save images using known image file types. This allows users to view the images on their PCs using the image-viewing software installed on the PCs. The data storage media of typical digital scouting cameras is recognized by such PCs as being a computer drive or other ancillary computer device. Accordingly, to retrieve and view the images, users navigate through the computer device or file mapping to select the images they want to view or transfer to their PCs or use one of a variety of image-viewing software packages that may be installed on their PCs.
In other words, typical digital scouting cameras require multiple steps or utilizing multiple software programs to organize and view images. If image enhancement or modification is desired, then even more software programs may be required. This not only can be cumbersome and time consuming but at times can be confusing for users.
Besides trying to organize their collected images, game animal observers frequently engage in their observing and/or hunting activities during periods of increased game animal activity. For example, many game observers and/or hunters will refer to Solunar Tables (developed by John Knight) for estimates of fish and game activity levels based on solar and lunar characteristics on a particular day. Solunar Tables estimate fish and game activity levels based on data that relates to numerous species and numerous locations, and, typically, the tables are made after considering all days within a calendar year.
However, known Solunar Tables at times do not adequately account for seasonal, location, and species specific variables. Such variables include species specific movement patterns that are influenced by breeding activity of a species, seasonal food availability at a particular location, predatory activity at that particular location, and other game-animal-related variables. Stated another way, game animal behavior is influenced by numerous factors including, for example, time-of-year, breeding seasons, and other factors, which may not be suitably addressed by information presented in known Solunar Tables.